Pastor’s Widow Testifies In His Murder Trial

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FORT WORTH (CBS 11 NEWS)-The widow of a pastor, who was murdered during a robbery at his church, testified she fainted when she arrived to the crime scene and learned of her husband’s death.

Judge Mike Thomas called for a recess during Laura Dobson’s testimony, when she became emotional as she described how she felt when she got a call from the music minister at North Pointe Church.

“I could hear the fear and terror in his voice,” she said. “I knew, I think it’s at that point that I knew he wasn’t here anymore.”

Dobson said on March 3, 2011, she spoke with her husband, Clint, at 8:30 a.m. and then again at 10:30 a.m.

When she tried to reach him again, he did not pick up his phone. She testified this was unusual, but she continued on with her work as pediatric occupational therapist, visiting special needs children at their homes.

When she tried to reach him again, his phone was off. She said that’s when she really started to panic because his phone was never off.

She testifed she then called and texted Judy Elliot and got no response.

She then called another employee from the church to express her concerns.

The employee called her and said she needed to get to the church as soon as possible.

When she arrived at the scene a crime scene investigator told Dobson her husband was dead.

She fainted. She testified that the next thing she remembers is waking up on the concrete and yelling, “I should have been here at 11 o’clock!”

Dobson said before her husband was murdered they had planned to start a family, and she thought she was pregnant when he was killed.

More than a year after after his murder, she still pays for her husband’s iPhone so she can hear his voice on his voicemail.

Steven Lewayne Nelson, 25, is charged with Capital Murder of Clint Dobson, who was a pastor at North Pointe Baptist Church. Prosecutors say Nelson suffocated Dobson with a plastic bag he grabbed from a trash can and attacked Dobson’s secretary, Judy Elliot, who survived her injuries.

Prosecutors allege Nelson stole Elliot’s white Mitsubishi Galant, Dobson’s laptop and then used their credit cards to go on a shopping spree after the crime.

Zorie Johnson testified he bought a laptop from Nelson on Thursday, March 3, 2011, just hours after police believe the killing took place.

In surveillance video captured by Tire King in Arlington, a white Mitsubishi Galant is seen driving into the parking lot.

Johnson testified that’s where he bought the laptop from Nelson.

Johnson said Nelson gave him the laptop inside a black satchel. Later, he found bills and mail with the name Clint Dobson on them.

Only later when Johnson saw news coverage of Clint Dobson’s murder did he realize what happened. He called Arlington Police to turn the laptop in.

Prosecutors also showed video of Nelson at a gas station in Arlington shortly after the crime buying gas and cigars.